Killing Two Birds with One Stone, by Beverly Hicks Burch

Several years ago I became enamored with Piece O’ Cake’s Thru Grandmother Window designs. I had fallen in love with applique, a method I had once abhorred. There is one certainty (at least in my mind) I have learned about quilting…the longer you do something, the better you become at it, and the better you become at it, the more you like it…you just may learn to love it. I guess that could hold true for anything in life.

These particular patterns were unlike any I had done before. They were bold, yet delicate. Eclectic yet similar to Baltimore applique. There was a siren call when I saw these patterns and I knew I had to do a quilt with some of them.

At the time, I had an “friend” I was teaching quilting and she also fell in love with the patterns. She, too wanted to do a quilt like mine. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery and when I say she wanted to do one like mine, I mean right down to the same fabrics. We would meet at my house at least once a week to work on blocks and progress through the quilt top.

When it came time to the border, that was where I went out on my own (other than our individual workmanship and ability) and took my road and she went her way. (She also went her way when my ex walked out on me because she couldn’t deal with the stress on my divorce, giving definition to the term fair weather friend.)

The blocks are all hand appliqued and for sashing I used a fabric that has a “wood” like appearance, therefore creating the panes of the window as you look out into the garden.

For a while now, the top has been quietly waiting for the right time. For forgotten memories and hurts to heal…for renewed needs, enjoyment and purpose. Well, this top’s time has come.

You see, I will be killing two birds with one stone so to speak. I will be quilting a top that has been begging for attention for a while AND I have really needed something to hang over our bed in the master bedroom. Presto, purpose found!

I’ve named the quilt Looking Through Grandmother’s Garden Window in honor of my great-grandmother Becky Shafer McGee who was a prolific quilter and inspired me to quilt. She was also a gardener who passed her green thumb down to several generations.

So, now my fingers have a new project they are just itching to get started on. Let the quilting begin!

Forgive the lighting…while there is plenty in my “studio” it is fluorescent and doesn’t always lend itself well to photography.

Looking Through Grandmother’s Garden Window – with an admirer (Watson) gazing upon it. (I think he was looking for T & H behind the top.)

This is a detail of a dimensional border I use and call a “filet”

© 2012 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.